paizo.com Recent Posts in Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG) Discussionpaizo.com Recent Posts in Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG) Discussion2014-07-11T17:43:43Z2014-07-11T17:43:43ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)HenshinFanatichttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2302014-11-23T09:37:57Z2014-11-23T09:37:57Z<p>Sorry about the necro, but can anyone share if all faiths are lumped under one "religious factions" entry or are there separate entries with some stuff common to all the other religious factions? Definitely will have to look into getting this either way as my recently acquired copy of Inner Sea Combat has sparked my interest in the faction system.</p>Sorry about the necro, but can anyone share if all faiths are lumped under one "religious factions" entry or are there separate entries with some stuff common to all the other religious factions? Definitely will have to look into getting this either way as my recently acquired copy of Inner Sea Combat has sparked my interest in the faction system.HenshinFanatic2014-11-23T09:37:57ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Gritnarr Halldorrhttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2292014-07-19T21:45:03Z2014-07-19T21:45:03Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">Oliver von Spreckelsen wrote:</div><blockquote><p> From the Additional Resources:</p>
<p>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faction Guide</p>
<p>Feat: Fast Crawl; Spells: hibernate, tripvine; Traits: Beast of the Society, Berserker of the Society, Blade of the Society, Defender of the Society, Exalted of the Society, Greater Adept of the Society, Havoc of the Society, Honored Fist of the Society, Maestro of the Society, Stalwart of the Society, Tracker of the Society</p>
<p>The faction mechanic has been reused and refined in the Pathfinder Society Field Guide. Further factions have been included in "Halflings of Golarion", "Inner Sea Magic" and "Inner Sea Combat". </blockquote><p>Ah, it didnt seem like Campaign Setting: Faction Guide and Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide was the same.
<p>Bummer none of the equipment stuff is legal.</p>Oliver von Spreckelsen wrote:From the Additional Resources:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faction Guide
Feat: Fast Crawl; Spells: hibernate, tripvine; Traits: Beast of the Society, Berserker of the Society, Blade of the Society, Defender of the Society, Exalted of the Society, Greater Adept of the Society, Havoc of the Society, Honored Fist of the Society, Maestro of the Society, Stalwart of the Society, Tracker of the Society
The faction mechanic has been reused and refined in the...Gritnarr Halldorr2014-07-19T21:45:03ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Oliver von Spreckelsenhttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2282014-07-19T20:30:48Z2014-07-19T20:30:48Z<p>From the Additional Resources:</p>
<p>Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faction Guide</p>
<p>Feat: Fast Crawl; Spells: hibernate, tripvine; Traits: Beast of the Society, Berserker of the Society, Blade of the Society, Defender of the Society, Exalted of the Society, Greater Adept of the Society, Havoc of the Society, Honored Fist of the Society, Maestro of the Society, Stalwart of the Society, Tracker of the Society</p>
<p>The faction mechanic has been reused and refined in the Pathfinder Society Field Guide. Further factions have been included in "Halflings of Golarion", "Inner Sea Magic" and "Inner Sea Combat".</p>From the Additional Resources:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faction Guide
Feat: Fast Crawl; Spells: hibernate, tripvine; Traits: Beast of the Society, Berserker of the Society, Blade of the Society, Defender of the Society, Exalted of the Society, Greater Adept of the Society, Havoc of the Society, Honored Fist of the Society, Maestro of the Society, Stalwart of the Society, Tracker of the Society
The faction mechanic has been reused and refined in the Pathfinder Society Field Guide....Oliver von Spreckelsen2014-07-19T20:30:48ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Gritnarr Halldorrhttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2272014-07-19T20:15:07Z2014-07-19T20:15:07Z<p>Anyone know if this is PFS legal? I cant find it in "additional resources".</p>Anyone know if this is PFS legal? I cant find it in "additional resources".Gritnarr Halldorr2014-07-19T20:15:07ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)ZanThraxhttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2262012-11-09T00:30:15Z2012-11-09T00:30:15Z<p>Has the faction system been revisted in any of the products since? It's a nice mechanic, it would be great to have more faction options for groups that aren't in this book. (Characters in my current game are able to join a faction, but there isn't always one that makes sense for me in this book; like my new CE Assassin - he agrees with the Bellflower Network's anti-slavery attitude, but can't join because they wouldn't approve of his methods.)</p>Has the faction system been revisted in any of the products since? It's a nice mechanic, it would be great to have more faction options for groups that aren't in this book. (Characters in my current game are able to join a faction, but there isn't always one that makes sense for me in this book; like my new CE Assassin - he agrees with the Bellflower Network's anti-slavery attitude, but can't join because they wouldn't approve of his methods.)ZanThrax2012-11-09T00:30:15ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Aureushttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2252012-08-22T19:57:46Z2012-08-22T19:57:46Z<p>Convinced, Set! Thank you for your insight! So if I ever have money to spare again, I might get this book. If I even find the time, I might post my takes on the "missing" factions.</p>
<p>Somehow I look forward to customizing those organizations for our campaign!</p>
<p>Oh, and are there any othe generic templates like the "Religious Factions"?</p>Convinced, Set! Thank you for your insight! So if I ever have money to spare again, I might get this book. If I even find the time, I might post my takes on the "missing" factions.
Somehow I look forward to customizing those organizations for our campaign!
Oh, and are there any othe generic templates like the "Religious Factions"?Aureus2012-08-22T19:57:46ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Sethttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2242012-08-11T10:28:29Z2012-08-11T10:28:29Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">Aureus wrote:</div><blockquote> If so could I use the <i>Mendev Crusaders</i> as model for the <i>Knights</i> and another power group for the <i>Order</i>? </blockquote><p>It is pretty customizable, and there's even 'Religious Factions' as an example of a generic template that a GM would most likely modify quite a bit depending on the religion in question (since it would follow that the Church of Erastil would give different boons than the Church of Urgathoa...).
<p>Faction boons are great places to throw in things like training in feats, spells, etc. that you don't want to make generally available, or retraining options (some of the factions even allow a Sorcerer to 'retrain' his Bloodline!, and it would follow for a church faction to allow a Cleric to 'retrain' one of his Domain choices, or a Wizard's school to allow a wizard to retrain as a 'generalist' or a specific type of Specialist).</p>
<p>Even if you don't use the Mendev Crusaders for the Knights of Ozem word for word, it will give you an idea what sort of faction boons would fit that group. (Some of the earlier boons are demon-specific, for instance, and the Knights of Ozem are more specifically anti-undead, so changing the word 'demon' to 'undead' for those boons would probably allow them to work more or less as is.)</p>Aureus wrote:If so could I use the Mendev Crusaders as model for the Knights and another power group for the Order?
It is pretty customizable, and there's even 'Religious Factions' as an example of a generic template that a GM would most likely modify quite a bit depending on the religion in question (since it would follow that the Church of Erastil would give different boons than the Church of Urgathoa...). Faction boons are great places to throw in things like training in feats, spells,...Set2012-08-11T10:28:29ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Aureushttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2232012-08-11T09:23:28Z2012-08-11T09:23:28Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">Ravenmantle wrote:</div><blockquote><p> Arcanamirium
</p>
Aspis Consortium
<br />
Bellflower Network
<br />
Bloodstone Swords
<br />
Church of Razmir
<br />
Eagle Knights
<br />
Greeen Faith
<br />
Hellknights
<br />
Kitharodian Academy
<br />
Kusari-Gama
<br />
Lantern Bearers
<br />
Lion Blades
<br />
Mendev Crusaders
<br />
Ninth Batallion
<br />
Old Cults
<br />
Pathfinder Society
<br />
Prophets of Kalistrade
<br />
Red Mantis Assassins
<br />
Religious Factions
<br />
Risen Guard
<br />
Shackles Pirates
<br />
Ulfen Guard
<br />
Varisian Wanderers
<br />
Whispering Way </blockquote><p>The second time I'm considering to get this one! Too bad that there is nothing about the <i>Order of the Palatine Eye</i> and the <i>Knights of Ozem</i>, as I am running <i>Carrion Crown</i>! Is the subsystem on organizations easily customizable? If so could I use the <i>Mendev Crusaders</i> as model for the <i>Knights</i> and another power group for the <i>Order</i>?Ravenmantle wrote:Arcanamirium
Aspis Consortium
Bellflower Network
Bloodstone Swords
Church of Razmir
Eagle Knights
Greeen Faith
Hellknights
Kitharodian Academy
Kusari-Gama
Lantern Bearers
Lion Blades
Mendev Crusaders
Ninth Batallion
Old Cults
Pathfinder Society
Prophets of Kalistrade
Red Mantis Assassins
Religious Factions
Risen Guard
Shackles Pirates
Ulfen Guard
Varisian Wanderers
Whispering Way
The second time I'm considering to get this one! Too bad that there is nothing about the Order...Aureus2012-08-11T09:23:28ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Notsonoblehttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2222011-10-31T19:00:23Z2011-10-31T19:00:23Z<p>Ah ha! That's something that's been confusing me a little on products. I've actually be relying solely on the list of on the website for what I could and couldn't use.</p>
<p>Thank you for that clarification.</p>Ah ha! That's something that's been confusing me a little on products. I've actually be relying solely on the list of on the website for what I could and couldn't use.
Thank you for that clarification.Notsonoble2011-10-31T19:00:23ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Liz Courts (Community Manager)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2212011-10-31T18:05:07Z2011-10-31T18:05:07Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">Notsonoble wrote:</div><blockquote> Is the Prestige System going to become open content soon? I actually have a) a worksheet for creating factions, and b) some factions for a setting I'm building that I'd like to provide but right now I can't do that if I understand correctly. </blockquote><p>It already is. The Open Content statement on the first page of the Faction Guide states that the game mechanics are Open Game Content. It's not in the Pathfinder Reference Document, though, but that does not mean you can't use the mechanics. (You'll have to update the Section 15 in your product accordingly, of course.)Notsonoble wrote:Is the Prestige System going to become open content soon? I actually have a) a worksheet for creating factions, and b) some factions for a setting I'm building that I'd like to provide but right now I can't do that if I understand correctly.
It already is. The Open Content statement on the first page of the Faction Guide states that the game mechanics are Open Game Content. It's not in the Pathfinder Reference Document, though, but that does not mean you can't use the...Liz Courts (Community Manager)2011-10-31T18:05:07ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Notsonoblehttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2202011-10-31T15:47:29Z2011-10-31T15:47:29Z<p>Is the Prestige System going to become open content soon? I actually have a) a worksheet for creating factions, and b) some factions for a setting I'm building that I'd like to provide but right now I can't do that if I understand correctly.</p>Is the Prestige System going to become open content soon? I actually have a) a worksheet for creating factions, and b) some factions for a setting I'm building that I'd like to provide but right now I can't do that if I understand correctly.Notsonoble2011-10-31T15:47:29ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Alzriushttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2192011-03-21T01:02:21Z2011-03-21T01:02:21Z<p>Is it just me, or does this book use the Section 15 declaration from <i>Heart of the Jungle</i>?</p>Is it just me, or does this book use the Section 15 declaration from Heart of the Jungle?Alzrius2011-03-21T01:02:21ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Sean K Reynolds (Contributor)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2182011-02-25T18:16:22Z2011-02-25T18:16:22Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">necromental wrote:</div><blockquote><p> Question: What is Nexavaran Steel supposed to do?
</p>
Faction guide says "it strikes true against monsters that are vulnerable to cold iron".
<br />
Does it only penetrate the DR/cold iron, and if so why is it more expensive than cold iron?
<br />
If not, what exactly does it do? </blockquote><p>It's actually less expensive than cold iron... if you're talking about nonmagical weapons (x1.5 cost instead of x2 cost). Once you start adding magic, it's more expensive (+3000 gp instead of +2000 gp).
<p>So it's really good for equipping your grunt troops with arrows and swords that cut through cold iron, but if you're buying magic weapons for officers and elites, it's cheaper to get actual cold iron.</p>necromental wrote:Question: What is Nexavaran Steel supposed to do?
Faction guide says "it strikes true against monsters that are vulnerable to cold iron".
Does it only penetrate the DR/cold iron, and if so why is it more expensive than cold iron?
If not, what exactly does it do?
It's actually less expensive than cold iron... if you're talking about nonmagical weapons (x1.5 cost instead of x2 cost). Once you start adding magic, it's more expensive (+3000 gp instead of +2000 gp). So it's...Sean K Reynolds (Contributor)2011-02-25T18:16:22ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)d20pfsrd.com (alias of jreyst)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2172011-02-25T17:57:16Z2011-02-25T17:57:16Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">necromental wrote:</div><blockquote><p> Question: What is Nexavaran Steel supposed to do?</p>
<p>Faction guide says "it strikes true against monsters that are vulnerable to cold iron". </p>
<p>Does it only penetrate the DR/cold iron, and if so why is it more expensive than cold iron?</p>
<p>If not, what exactly does it do? </blockquote><p><a href="http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/special-materials#TOC-Nexavaran-Steel" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Nexavaran Steel care of d20pfsrd.com</a>necromental wrote:Question: What is Nexavaran Steel supposed to do?
Faction guide says "it strikes true against monsters that are vulnerable to cold iron".
Does it only penetrate the DR/cold iron, and if so why is it more expensive than cold iron?
If not, what exactly does it do?
Nexavaran Steel care of d20pfsrd.comd20pfsrd.com (alias of jreyst)2011-02-25T17:57:16ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)necromentalhttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2162011-02-25T17:42:00Z2011-02-25T17:42:00Z<p>Question: What is Nexavaran Steel supposed to do?</p>
<p>Faction guide says "it strikes true against monsters that are vulnerable to cold iron". </p>
<p>Does it only penetrate the DR/cold iron, and if so why is it more expensive than cold iron?</p>
<p>If not, what exactly does it do?</p>Question: What is Nexavaran Steel supposed to do?
Faction guide says "it strikes true against monsters that are vulnerable to cold iron".
Does it only penetrate the DR/cold iron, and if so why is it more expensive than cold iron?
If not, what exactly does it do?necromental2011-02-25T17:42:00ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)ajshttp://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2152010-11-16T15:03:01Z2010-11-16T15:03:01Z<div class="messageboard-quotee">Charles Evans 25 wrote:</div><blockquote><br />
<br />
A sidebar mentioning/explaining the Underground Railroad as an inspiration would have helped head that off, and I would have found that more informative, educational, and useful than the sidebar about terminology which did end up in print.
<br />
</blockquote><p>First, an aside into history...
<p>Well, to be fair, the Underground Railroad has features in common with many other organizations throughout history. Even today, such organizations are crucial to helping oppressed people escape enslavement and persecution. For example, there is a South Korean organization that works to move targets of the North Korean regime over the border into China (a dangerous thing to do on both sides of the border). The so-called Korean Underground Railroad was featured in a documentary film called <a href="http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/seoultrain/railroad.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Seoul Train</a>.</p>
<p>In terms of highly organized abolitionist groups, you might be familiar with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/antislavery_01.shtml" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">The Society for the Abolition of Slave Trade</a> a late 18th century, British organization that advocated for the abolition of Britain's involvement in the salve trade.</p>
<p>Now back to Golarion...</p>
<p>It's interesting that you find a group of Halflings who work to escape slavery "bizarre, and somewhat too melodramatic" when this book also contains a faction built around assassination as a form of worship; a nation that uses the undead as guardians; hundreds (thousands?) of adventurers who somehow don't see the inherent danger in building a nations-spanning and powerful organization whose leadership is kept secret from its members; and one that worships gods so alien that it's not clear if they're actually malevolent or just uncaringly destructive and seen through the eyes of their stark raving mad cultists.</p>
<p>So no, I don't think the Bellflowers are over the top. I think they fit in to Golarion as a voice of sanity and humanoid dignity (random aside: what term do Golarion's residents use for the sentient and civilized races? We tend to throw around phrases like "humanity" and "humankind" without thinking of their limited scope... what does a Halfling say?)</p>Charles Evans 25 wrote:A sidebar mentioning/explaining the Underground Railroad as an inspiration would have helped head that off, and I would have found that more informative, educational, and useful than the sidebar about terminology which did end up in print.
First, an aside into history... Well, to be fair, the Underground Railroad has features in common with many other organizations throughout history. Even today, such organizations are crucial to helping oppressed people escape...ajs2010-11-16T15:03:01ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Charles Evans 25http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2142010-08-04T15:10:58Z2010-08-04T14:36:38Z<p>(edited)
<br />
SKR:
<br />
I understand (now) that the Bellflower Network is based on an organization from actual US history, but could you perhaps use the sidebar to explain your inspiration please, the next time you do this in a Chronicles book? With truth being stranger than fiction and my coming from a UK educational background which considered the only US history worth mentioning the Great Depression, Prohibition and Al Capone, my initial impression of the Bellflower Network was that the Bellflower Network was rather bizarre, and somewhat too melodramatic to be credible. I did not get or appreciate the 'homage' angle which you seem to have been angling for with the entry at all. :(
<br />
A sidebar mentioning/explaining the Underground Railroad as an inspiration would have helped head that off, and I would have found that more informative, educational, and useful than the sidebar about terminology which did end up in print.</p>(edited)
SKR:
I understand (now) that the Bellflower Network is based on an organization from actual US history, but could you perhaps use the sidebar to explain your inspiration please, the next time you do this in a Chronicles book? With truth being stranger than fiction and my coming from a UK educational background which considered the only US history worth mentioning the Great Depression, Prohibition and Al Capone, my initial impression of the Bellflower Network was that the Bellflower...Charles Evans 252010-08-04T14:36:38ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Valda Argead'Croi (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2132012-08-02T15:49:06Z2010-07-19T12:17:32Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> And the last Faction Rival, a devoted foe to the followers of the Whispering Way, with her own reason to understand the nature of the Empty Dead... </span>
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
.</p>
<p>When a tale starts with an outsider stalking the field of a great battle between the forces of Mendev and the Abyss, snatching up a dying warrior and tearing out her heart as part of some pact, before experimenting upon her body, one could be forgiven for leaping to the assumption that the outsider was not an <i>angel.</i></p>
<p>Valda fell to undead creatures, raised up by some demon-worshipping cultist, and her body was ravaged by ghouls before it was recovered by the armored angel who carried her gently away, and when she awoke in some celestial smithy, there was the sound of hammering, and great pain, and fire burned through her veins. She rose to find that her body was restored, and a strange calmness filled her, as she turned to the steely-eyed clockwork angel who had brought her back to life, and learned that the sexless creature had worked other changes besides, replacing her riven heart with one of enchanted silver, that would give her new hope in the fight against the new menace rising to the west…</p>
<p>She awoke again, as if from a dream, on the field of battle where she had fallen, the ghouls tearing at her flesh her last memory of this place, and rose unharmed, to stagger back to her unit, who feared that she had come back as one of the unliving, and doused her with holy water before accepting her fantastical story of death and rebirth. Still, the rumors were unsettling, and her superiors agreed heartily with the vision’s recommendation that she head west, to seek out this growing evil the smith-angel spoke of, not merely because it was a divine revelation, but because her presence so near the men who had watched her die would prove a dangerous point of contention.</p>
<p>Her personal life also suffered greatly, having met and fallen in love with a fellow Crusader, a fiery and passionate Caydenite from Andoran, en route to Mendev, and married him on the eve of their first battle together. Now her silver heart beat cold, and she found him a strange and disquieting man, full of nonsensical passions and accusations that would have broken her heart, if it were still made of flesh. His grieving had been interrupted by her miraculous return, and now they had nothing in common, as his hopes and dreams and fears, his passions and love for her, meant nothing to her cold, mechanical heart. She remembers that his smile used to make her smile, but she felt only a burning drive to travel to the west, and leave this sad man she no longer knew far behind.</p>
<p>In Ustalav, she wears the silver band he found for their marriage (gold being in short supply in their current circumstances) on a cord around her neck, no longer thinking that she has a right to wear it on her finger, having left her husband hundreds of miles away. Her own Taldan faith in Sarenrae had turned to the more locally-prominent faith of Iomedae, on the Crusade, and she wonders now if her mortal heart was too fickle, and led to her undoing. During her time of conversion, it had seemed a proper thing, as the churches were working together, and several other conversions occurred as individuals better suited to one faith or the other swore new oaths, and several church procedures and techniques were shared, to strengthen both faiths against the forces of the Worldwound, but now she wonders if this loose alliance of churches was a terrible idea, with clergy and paladins of Torag, Erastil, Iomedae, Shelyn and Sarenrae all united, at least on this one matter, in opposition to the forces of the Abyss. Were they weakening that which made them individually powerful and relevant? Were they merely aping the Hellknights of the ‘Godclaw,’ and as that order seems dominated by the chuch of Asmodeus, would the church of Iomedae end up drawing more and more faithful from the other four deities, leaving them the worse off for the bargain? With the fall of Aroden, Iomedae’s superior, the world had already seen the risk of placing too much on a single diety, and perhaps the gods of good would be better served focusing on their own strengths…</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> Valda’s battle against the undead flocking to Gallowspire seems without end, and those who assist her may be gifted with flasks of twice-blessed water or holy oil. Those with the craft may even learn the formula and rites necessary to create such theurgic concoctions, and she has been reassured that it is the will of the gods that these tools against evil and the undead be spread as far and wide as possible.</p>
<p>Valda knows the name of the angel who changed her, body and soul, and will whisper it to someone who has done her a favor, if they wish to Call this worker of flesh and metal, at their own risk. She washes her hands of any responsibility for any bargains they make with this cold, alien entity, knowing too well how her life has changed, and not always for the better, because of its artifice.</p>
<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Stats for twice-blessed holy water, consecrated oil and the Couer Argente, Valda's silver mechanical heart, which I shamelessly stole from some thirty year old Judge's Guild module, IIRC, are in the profile. </span></p>And the last Faction Rival, a devoted foe to the followers of the Whispering Way, with her own reason to understand the nature of the Empty Dead...
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.
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When a tale starts with an outsider stalking the field of a great battle between the forces of Mendev and the Abyss, snatching up a dying warrior and tearing out her heart as part of some pact, before experimenting upon her body, one could be forgiven for leaping to the assumption that the outsider was not an angel.
Valda fell to undead...Valda Argead'Croi (alias of Set)2010-07-19T12:17:32ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Mordecai, the Deathless Hunger (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2122012-08-02T15:48:55Z2010-07-19T12:01:57Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Last Faction, woot. Good thing, too, 'cause I'm going on vacation tomorrow! And I cheaped out by recycling the first alternate profile I made for these messageboards... :)</span>
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Born to a status between slave and cattle in Geb, Mordecai was selected from the slave pens for his robust health and pleasing appearance to serve as the ‘vessel’ of a member of the vampire aristocracy, surviving to become, for a short time, her favored vessel, accompanying her at all times and bending his throat to her hungers. Tastes change, and soon he was discarded like last years ‘favored vessel,’ only surviving his ‘retirement’ through subterfuge and the grace of Urgathoa, who blessed him with a sickness so noisome that the aristocrat would not drain his blood completely, in the custom of ‘retirement,’ but instead had him dumped barely alive with the other human refuse of her appetites.</p>
<p>Taking his inspiration from the Pallid Princess’ gift of continued life, he set forth from Geb, eager to avoid becoming prey before he could attain for himself the gift of an unbeating heart and ageless wisdom.</p>
<p>He washed up in Riddleport, after diverse wanderings, and fell in with an unsavory group of pain fetishists, slavers, would-be diabolists and mixed-blood ne’er-do-wells, only to meet his end on some insignificant island infested with creatures more unnatural than even his studies had prepared him to face, pouring forth his hate in waves of negative energy, but still falling to their sheer numbers.</p>
<p>And yet, Urgathoa was still not done with him. He rose seven nights later, but as a ghoul, not some stranger thing, and has returned to warrens beneath Riddleport to build a dark temple to the Lady that has twice now saved him from a merely mortal death. Lurking below the community, he seeks to amass power and knowledge for himself, so much power that he can abandon the cravings of the ghoul and restore himself to human life, for one fleeting moment, before taking the final step into lichdom. His researches have already begun, and he has learned the crafting of arcane items, knowing that someday he must be able to construct his own phylactery, and that until then, his lesser creations will serve as valuable practice against that day. Time is precious, in it’s own way, as he must use <i>gentle repose</i> regularly to hold back the clock, and knows that he is already nine days dead, for the purposes of the <i>raise dead</i> spell, despite his best efforts. He uses a combination of alchemical preservatives, disguise and his own skills from life as a mortician and embalmer to keep his body supple and well-preserved, although the privations of his time as a ‘vessel’ had left him gaunt and pale, even before his transition into undeath.</p>
<p>He uses a combination of diplomacy, intimidation, disguise and spellcraft to work his craft below the notice of most in the city, and has a smattering of townsfolk in his thrall through various sinister means, his favorite being the use of <i>bestow curse</i> to inflict some ailment upon another, one that only he can easily diagnose and remove from these poor souls, unable to afford the services of the temples. His sole human acolyte is a familiar sight to the fishermen of the docks, purifying food in exchange for the parts of the catch that are inedible, which go to feed the ever-empty gullet of the only other ghoul that serves in his hidden temple, while a retinue of skeletons keep the place secure from the wanderings of the many rogue-ish sorts who might stumble upon this place.</p>
<p>As a member of the Whispering Way, Mordecai is all-too-aware that he is a small fish, and so has chosen to remain in Riddleport, by the standards of the Way, entrenched in such necropolitan areas as Geb and Osirion and Ustalav, a very ‘small pond,’ in which he is less likely to encounter competition, who would likely find it trivially easy to obliterate his small operation. He is a gifted diplomat, having survived his early mortal years through flattering a vampiress to whom the term ‘psychotic’ would be an understatement, and turns his charms to his own survival, when encountering a master of the Way. He has no wish at all to see if Urgathoa will give him a <i>third</i> chance…</p>
<p>Mordecai has needs. He has uncovered magics that allow him to stave off his hungers, but finds that Urgathoa frowns upon such matters, and that she turns her face from his prayers if he relies on magic to ignore the holy gnawing in his belly. And so, an endless supply of meat, of any quality at all, is needed to sate his hungers, most of which he aquires from butchers scraps, the occasional body found in the streets, and those squirming things plucked from fishermen’s nets that could not be sold to any living customer. He also seeks lore into lichcraft, although he knows that he is many years from attaining the level of power necessary to make that transition, and other lore of the Whispering Way, which may be traded for the lore more useful to his specific goals.</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> While Mordecai himself is forbidden to slake his hungers with the magics he has discovered, he can, for a great price, show a fellow ghoul or vampire (or living, for that matter) spellcaster how to use magic to negate hunger and the need for sustenance for a day, or even how to craft a magical item that enacts this effect.</p>
<p>For other forms of undead, his skills in embalming and disguise, and ability to cast <i>gentle repose</i> may be of great value, affording a corporeal undead a fair chance of passing as a living person, depending on the particular circumstances of that undead’s nature. (Skeletons, not so much.)</p>
<p>He has also learned a Whispering Way technique that allows him to <i>animate skeletons</i> anointed in the blood of another to place them under that individual’s control, instead of his own, although the process is less effective if the beneficiary is not a spellcaster, and has it’s drawbacks and quirks, such as certain requirements that should be followed to prevent the skeletons from turning on their master…</p>Last Faction, woot. Good thing, too, 'cause I'm going on vacation tomorrow! And I cheaped out by recycling the first alternate profile I made for these messageboards... :)
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Born to a status between slave and cattle in Geb, Mordecai was selected from the slave pens for his robust health and pleasing appearance to serve as the ‘vessel’ of a member of the vampire aristocracy, surviving to become, for a short time, her favored vessel, accompanying her at all times and bending his throat to...Mordecai, the Deathless Hunger (alias of Set)2010-07-19T12:01:57ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Ketli Inkwhistle (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2112012-08-02T15:48:49Z2010-07-18T16:55:06Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Who would be a rival to the Varisian Wanderers? I mean, who hates gypsies? Other than <i>Hitler.</i> (ooh, self-Godwin, ftw!) And we don't have enough evil Gnomes. So let's put those two thoughts together in my brain and hit puree... </span>
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Ketli Inkwhistle is bemused by the idea that some gnomes grow so jaded by this world of infinite wonders that they begin to fade away. Crazy! She’s been unable to focus on just one of the seemingly endless and fascinating diversions that this world offers, and transitioned as a youth from a devoted cook, to a butcher, to a taxidermist, to a student of body art, such as tattoos and scarification. From there, traveling to find new tattoos and scarification techniques, she fell in with the followers of Andirifkhu, particularly with a charismatic halfling serial killer who served as a cleric of that faith, and was pleased when she was the first of his disciples to not only survive his initiation, but to also answer the call of the Razor Princess, and become a cleric like himself, his companion in faith, in torture, in self-mutilation, and in the more mundane pleasures of the bedchamber.</p>
<p>But a gnome she remained, and this would never be enough for her wandering eye. She left his peeled and cooling body in the cellar he used as a ‘temple’ to the Razor Princess, stealing his self-crafted ‘Razor Gauntlet’ as a trophy of her time learning from the man she had come to see as stuck in a rut, always committing the same murder by the same methods, as if attempting to repeat himself unto perfection, instead of moving on to new and exciting challenges and experiences.</p>
<p>It was in discovering the intricate, and magically-potent, tattoos of the Varisian wanderers, that she found the faith and practices of Andirifkhu to fail her. Now matter how elegantly she carved, the tattoos were ruined, and she felt that she had reached the limits of what the song of razor-through-flesh could teach her, and sought out instead lore that led her to the faith of Abraxas instead, finding the Lord of the Final Incantation more to her liking. She has devoted her life to now finding and abducting Varisians, to examine their tattoos for signs of power, and when she finds them, she slices them away in a bloody (and fatal) sacrificial rite to Abraxas that allows her to harness the power of these tattoos as if they had been placed upon her own flesh.</p>
<p>She has, almost incidentally, learned that the Varisian wanderers sometimes carry small items that seem worthless, but contain spiritual connections that imbue them with a bit of sentience. She is now seeking a manner by which she can preserve these fragments, and commune with them, even after slaying their owners, but so far all have died within months of the death of their masters. Still, she retains these ‘tatcheys’ tied together on a long leather cord, and intends to find a way to rekindle and bind these spiritual fragments, so that they can never abandon her…</p>
<p>When she isn’t running around murdering people, she works as a cook and butcher, of some skill and repute, always wandering, but sometimes pleased to find that her reputation has preceded her, and people are eager to sample her fine fare. Unknown to most, she ‘spices’ her most infamous meals with negligible amounts of alchemically crafted drugs and toxins that she has diluted until they are merely noticeable, but not debilitating or damaging (usually…). As a result, her meals are sometimes said to have an otherworldly effect, and she smiles a little smile when someone asks her about her so-called ‘First World Cooking,’ since she knows that the ‘secret ingredient’ is some combination of spider venom (for the pleasant tingling) and mushrooms (for the occasional visual side-effects).</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> Anyone who helps Ketli in her gruesome activities, to locate and skin tattooed Varisians (and random other people with interesting tattoos), or to figure out how to communicate with and / or preserve the tiny sentiences preserved within the wanderers elusive ‘tatcheys’ (essentially trapping tiny fragments of her victims souls to torment for all eternity), will earn great favor with the psychotic little freak.</p>
<p>Sarenrae help them.</p>
<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Stats for the four stolen Varisian tattoos she's 'scalped' so far and how they work in her possession in the profile. Also the 'razor gauntlet' she stole from her last demon-worshipping serial killer boyfriend before betraying him, his cult and his god. Worst breakup ever... </span></p>Who would be a rival to the Varisian Wanderers? I mean, who hates gypsies? Other than Hitler. (ooh, self-Godwin, ftw!) And we don't have enough evil Gnomes. So let's put those two thoughts together in my brain and hit puree...
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Ketli Inkwhistle is bemused by the idea that some gnomes grow so jaded by this world of infinite wonders that they begin to fade away. Crazy! She’s been unable to focus on just one of the seemingly endless and fascinating diversions that this world offers, and...Ketli Inkwhistle (alias of Set)2010-07-18T16:55:06ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)'Old Malco' Boramy (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2102012-08-02T15:48:46Z2010-07-18T16:44:13Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> The wise old gypsy dude who serves as the Varisian Wanderers Patron is also guardian of what is essentially an artifact. I'm getting near the end, might as well go all out. :) </span>
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'Old Malco' Boramy is an old Varisian man, looking like a bag of sticks bound in skin like cracked and stained parchment, his wandering days long behind him. His hair has gone white, and he moves slowly and deliberately, on most days, furthering the initial impression that he is one foot on the ground and another already on the ferryman’s boat. Those who speak to him disrespectfully, or assume that he is hard of hearing (or that his eyes are clouded by age) may receive a tweak on the nose from surprisingly nimble fingers, as his age may have taken the strength from his arms and the stride from his step, but he’s as capable as he ever was. He tends to forget his age at times, and is an outrageous flirt, always willing to dance with a lovely lady, at least until he grows winded, which comes much more quickly than he remembers.</p>
<p>He lives in a small house on the shores of the river, which river is prone to changing, sometimes inexplicably, having appeared as far east as the Velashu river north of Riddleport, and as far west as the Jeggare river, upstream of Korvosa. His small home is distinctly recognizable as springing forth in a ramshackle manner from a painted wagon, but it generally looks like it is a permanent structure, and has been wherever it appears for quite some time (and it only moves every few years, so this is not always a poor assumption).</p>
<p>Wanderers are welcome, and those of the family may make use of his spellcasting services, or little trinkets that he has found (or made) piled around his cluttered disaster of a home, filled with precariously teetering piles of junk that he assembled during a lifetime of wandering (or inherited from the previous residents, in some cases).</p>
<p>Malco has a secret that only the initiated may know, and are forbidden to speak of to non-Wanderers, that he is the Keeper of the Hidden Library. Under a tattered rug, he will reveal a plain looking trapdoor (that radiates no dweomer) that was worked into the bottom of his rickety wagon, and if he opens this trapdoor while speaking the proper words, a doorway into another place appears, allowing he and his guests to take a ladder down into an extradimensional space crafted via a variation upon <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesMagnificentMansion.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> <i>magnificent mansion</i> </a> cast by some ancient arcanist (presumed to have been Thassilonian by most visitors, although Malco has his doubts on this last point).</p>
<p>Within the Hidden Library, the layout is unsettling to the eye, with no sharp angles on any item of the rounded and curvilinear furniture, and the majority of the room being irregular trapezoids, with every corner ‘filled in’ and rounded, leaving no angles or sharp edges. Everything is white, grey or silver in color, and nothing is decorated. Doorways between chambers are ovoid (tapering towards the top, usually, like an egg resting on its fat end), and only dull grey ‘curtains’ that appear to be made of falling mist separate them. The tall slender and silent servants are clad in all-concealing silvery robes that seem part metal and part cloth, with only their white porcelain-skinned hands and mask-like unmoving faces visible occasionally as their hoods or sleeves part. Where their faces are visible, their chins are small, and their foreheads large, with pursed and thin-lipped mouths set beneath flat triangular noses resemble an owl’s beak and large oval solid-blue eyes. If accosted, the hands and face drop away, shattering into thin porcelain as they hit the ground, while the silvery robes dissolve into dust and spiderwebs. Even if this happens, any missing servants are replaced within a month, inexplicably, and Malco discourages any meddling with them. The closest thing to a familiar sight within the extradimensional space are the piles and piles and piles of books, stacked on floors and tables. It is often only after entering the Hidden Library that a visiting Wanderer will notice that Malco’s cluttered home included dozens of everything, but not a single book or scroll, as he brings them all into the Library for safekeeping. A property of the extradimensional space is that any nonmagical item left within it after all living souls have left the extradimensional space becomes property of the Library forever, and cannot ever be removed (regardless of tactics, any attempts at removing something from the library result in the thief having a handful of cobwebs and dust, and the stolen or destroyed item reappearing within the library anywhere from immediately to one month later). This means that while the many many books and scrolls of lore within the library can never be removed, they are preserved forever, for the enlightment of visiting Wanderers. Malco has found two ‘doorways’ within the Library that he cannot enter, and suspects that they are like his own entrance, portals from the outside world that allow other visitors into the Library (and that it was perhaps a meeting place, in ancient times). He attempted for many years to organize the books in the library, placing books on certain subjects in certain rooms, for convenience, and it seemed that his efforts were undone. He attempted to destroy the servants, since they took a month to return, but this helped not at all, and he finally gave up, carefully cataloguing the changes as he could, to discover that someone *else* was attempting a similar project, and had very different organizational ideas than he did. So he allowed this mysterious third party to organize things, and learned from their efforts (not much, although he has determined that they made a very deliberate choice to allow no stack of books to exceed three feet in height, which has led him to the conclusion that they aren’t very tall…).</p>
<p>[Unknown to Malco, a second portal to the Hidden Library exists within the Gnomish community of Omesta, and is similarly guarded by an irritable Gnomish scholar, who has finally ordered the books to her own eccentric tastes, which is inconvenient for Malco, but more acceptable than the shadowy ‘war’ over the organization of the library. Neither the Wanderers nor the Gnomes are able to perceive or affect each other while visiting the Library, although both are aware that sometimes things are moved, or servants are called away to perform inexplicable duties for the mysterious ‘others.’ The third portal does not appear to be in operation, or is lost, as no third party has been noted by either gnome or Wanderer.]</p>
<p>The wide-bottomed rooms are arranged in a circle around a central room that has a small floor space, but widens as the walls rise to a wide ceiling, upon which a permanent image of the starry night sky shows the constellations in great detail. Unfortunately, the constellations never change, and Malco theorizes that the scene ‘froze,’ as his research into those constellations indicates that this would be what the night-sky looked like over Absalom, on the night that the Age of Prophecy came to an end… Not terribly useful as an observatory, if it ever was, this room is also used to store many texts, and most of the texts of particular use to arcane spellcasters will be found here.</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> The sheer number of volumes in the Hidden Library can grant a visiting Wanderer a +2 circumstance bonus to any research check, or a +4 bonus if the user is willing to spend 1d4+1 hours attempting to make sense of the gnomish ‘organization.’ (Even Malco can only shorten this by 1 hour, with all his experience, as the irascible gnomish scholars system is maddeningly obscure to his every attempt to interpret.) Research into spells or item creation pertaining to illusions can be performed here at 15% reduced prices, due to the abundance of information Malco has acquired on that field, and research into magics related to divination and abjuration are similarly reduced in cost by 5%. (The latter through no effort on his part, as the Library always seemed to have an abundance of information on divinatory matters, and seems to be gaining new texts on protective and abjurative magics through the preferences of the mysterious ‘Others.’)</p>
<p>The Hidden Library also makes a fine hiding place for a Wanderer in trouble, as it removes the quarry from the world of the living and places them beyond most forms of divinatory magic, while providing a safe, if somewhat boring, environment and even sustenance, as the enigmatic servants will bring food of exotic form and texture (round plates of ‘bread’ made from puffed rice bearing circular chunks of alternately sweet and sour-tasting goat’s cheese and leathery dried fruits and vegetables, some of them quite exotic in appearance) and clean water upon request, being able to provide such sustenance for a dozen or more visitors without apparent limit.</p>
<p>He can also show another how to craft (or simply sell or give them) Dancing Scarves or the new Feather's Token, the Witches Broom.</p>
<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Stats for his Witches Broom tokens, Dancing Scarves and his other unique item, the Starry Lantern, in the profile. </span></p>The wise old gypsy dude who serves as the Varisian Wanderers Patron is also guardian of what is essentially an artifact. I'm getting near the end, might as well go all out. :)
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'Old Malco' Boramy is an old Varisian man, looking like a bag of sticks bound in skin like cracked and stained parchment, his wandering days long behind him. His hair has gone white, and he moves slowly and deliberately, on most days, furthering the initial impression that he is one foot on the ground and another...'Old Malco' Boramy (alias of Set)2010-07-18T16:44:13ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Duke Rocco Corinni (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2092012-08-02T15:48:44Z2010-07-16T22:02:47Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> The obvious Rival to the Ulfen Guard would be someone who wants the Grand Prince dead. Predictably, I didn't go there. </span>
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Rocco grew up immersed in the glory of Taldan culture and history, and has taken great umbrage at the perceived necessity for uncouth barbarians to safeguard the Grand Prince. Taldor’s reliance on foreign mercenaries for such a vital task is an outrage, and ill suits a nation returning to its prior pre-eminence on the world stage. What sort of message does it send that the ruler of Taldor cannot even trust his own people to guard him from treachery?</p>
<p>The young Duke spent as much time serving as an officer as was required to secure a commission, not for the money, but for the status and the valuable training in the arts of war, indeed spending more time on the so-called ‘front lines’ than his family deemed strictly necessary for appearances. He trained in the finest fighting schools, mastering the regional style of falcata and buckler, which he found to be quite superior to the crude and clumsy weapons preferred by the northern savages, and has studied an art derived from more subtle combatants, to open a bleeding wound in a target, believing that the northerners are too impatient to be able to outlast a steady opponent, who weaves a barrier of steel and allows their wounds to sap the energy from them. His extensive defensive training, combined with the somewhat embarrassing gifts of defensive items from his concerned mother, makes him surprisingly difficult to strike, particularly when he is fighting defensively, as is his preferred style.</p>
<p>His star is on the rise, as an associate of the Ulfen Guard (a liedrieg, whatever that means) answered a taunt with violence, and his preferred tactic did indeed fell the brute, who charged screaming, and minutes later had bled out, having landed only a pair of blows (which Rocco admits to himself were thunderously bruising, and nearly sufficient to end the battle on their own!). He has taken to carrying a few healing elixirs as well, after this encounter, but his quiet commentary that the warriors of Taldor are every bit the equal of the ice-brained lackeys from the north have gained weight from the gossip that followed his victory over this barbarian.</p>
<p>He is gathering a small entourage of overconfident youth, far too few of which, in his opinion, have the swordsmanship to back up their bluster, and he now has his hands full attempting to keep them from openly provoking members of the Ulfen Guard in the street, which, if anything, only seems to encourage them to ‘prove themselves’ to him. He already feels the reins slipping out of his hands, and it’s inevitable that someone is going to get killed…</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> Duke Corrini’s primary goal is to see the Ulfen Guard replaced by local Taldan warriors, sworn to the protection of the Grand Prince, but he is more concerned at the moment with the survival of the more hotheaded noble scions who have flocked to his hasty words, and are all-too-ready to pick fights and get themselves killed by the battle-hardened brutes that the Ulfen Guard tends to recruit.</p>
<p>Anyone who can help him to undermine the reputation of the Ulfen Guard, or to save one of his noble-minded but overly enthusiastic supporters from a fatal misstep will earn his favor. His family is quite wealthy and well-connected, and he can provide access to an array of services and family contacts. He has not yet found anyone with the patient and studious nature to master the Bleeding Strike fighting style he has perfected, but would be delighted to find a Taldan-born student who shares his goals, and appreciates the subtly of the style, or even one who wishes to master the intricacies of the falcata, or the Rondelero school style.</p>
<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Mechanics for the Duke's Bleeding Strike feat available in the profile. Only the Varisian Wanderers and Whispering Way to go... </span></p>The obvious Rival to the Ulfen Guard would be someone who wants the Grand Prince dead. Predictably, I didn't go there.
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Rocco grew up immersed in the glory of Taldan culture and history, and has taken great umbrage at the perceived necessity for uncouth barbarians to safeguard the Grand Prince. Taldor’s reliance on foreign mercenaries for such a vital task is an outrage, and ill suits a nation returning to its prior pre-eminence on the world stage. What sort of message does it send that...Duke Rocco Corinni (alias of Set)2010-07-16T22:02:47ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Aesa Helsdottir (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2082012-08-02T15:48:41Z2010-07-16T21:56:51Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> So, Ulfen Guard Patron. Kinda screams big burly human barbarian. So I went with a hawt Aasimar Ranger / Rogue. The more things change... </span>
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Aesa was born to Haelfri Tondarsdottir, who made her own reputation striking a poisoned cup from the hand of the Grand Prince, and so has large shoes to fill. A tall woman, powerfully built, and with skin as white as snow and hair that seems to be spun of ruddy gold, Aesa cuts a striking figure, a half-head taller than the slender olive-skinned Taldan noblemen she drags to her bedroom to ‘break.’</p>
<p>On the job, she’s all business, with a focus that is intimidating to behold, even when she isn’t deliberately trying to cow those whose eyes meet her own. Startlingly bright blue, especially in a darkened room, where they shine with inner light, her eyes miss nothing, and she is said to be able to ferret out the smallest inconsistency, sign of guilt or out-of-place detail, with just a cursory glance. She is almost as skilled as the rumors (which she subtly encourages) suggest, and despite her rough language and crude ways when off-duty, she has a powerful mind, as clear and cold as her appearance suggests, beneath her ‘barbarian’ façade.</p>
<p>Aesa is still looking to prove herself to her fellow Guardsmen, and while woman warriors are not unknown among the Ulfen Guard, they often play more subtle roles. She has chosen a man’s life, and her interactions with her countrymen is colored by perceptions, with some treating her as ‘one of the guys’ and others regarding her as not knowing ‘her place.’ Her dalliances with adventurous Taldan men has more to do with her pride, as she rebuffs any advances from other Ulfen, spurning them as she feels that they have spurned her (even in the cases of those who have done nothing to warrant this treatment), and having developed something of a reputation among the men of the Guard as prickly and not worth the effort. She had taken to deliberately provoking her set-in-their-ways countrymen, and it is only a matter of time before she instigates a fight…</p>
<p>When Aesa came of age, her mother retired her commission, and ‘answered the call of the sky.’ She has no idea what her mother meant by this, only that she showed no signs of aging or of diminished ability, and walked away into a thunderstorm to vanish amid a stroke of lightning. She feels incomplete, and is angry at her mother, knowing that there is some special heritage to explain her gifts, but that she has been left in the dark, unprepared to face whatever wyrd has been laid upon her.</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> Anyone who helps Aesa in the performance of her duties, not merely the physical safeguarding of the Grand Prince, but also the gathering of information as to potential threats, or who helps her in a more personal matter, such as to stave off a conflict that her increasingly-deliberate provocations has sparked among her countrymen, may earn her favor. She can arrange for a group of Ulfen rowdies to harass someone for a friend, or even for a member of the Guard to ‘accidentally’ bump into them in public, and force a social loss of face, as the Ulfen Guard are rarely challenged when such a ‘mistake’ occurs, resulting in the injured party appearing weak, as they are seen to back down to the ‘rude barbarian.’</p>
<p>She is well connected, not only through the Guard, and her constant information-gathering efforts, but also through a string of off-and-on lovers scattered through the courtly community (almost always men of some military standing, past or present, as she does not bed ‘weaklings’). As a result, she can put an ally into contact with scions of several prominent families, even to the extent of arranging private meetings in out of the way places (although she will be displeased if such a favor results in the harm of one of her ‘boys,’ in most cases…).</p>So, Ulfen Guard Patron. Kinda screams big burly human barbarian. So I went with a hawt Aasimar Ranger / Rogue. The more things change...
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Aesa was born to Haelfri Tondarsdottir, who made her own reputation striking a poisoned cup from the hand of the Grand Prince, and so has large shoes to fill. A tall woman, powerfully built, and with skin as white as snow and hair that seems to be spun of ruddy gold, Aesa cuts a striking figure, a half-head taller than the slender olive-skinned Taldan...Aesa Helsdottir (alias of Set)2010-07-16T21:56:51ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Captain Mahayti Sharoum (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2072012-08-02T15:48:33Z2010-07-16T12:34:16Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> And a rival to the Shackles Pirates, a privateer from the Kingdom of Man, seeking to rid the seas of piracy *and* superstition, while pleased to be on the open sea, and away from his own countrymen, as well... </span>
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Captain Mahayti Sharoum cuts an exotic figure, barefoot aboard his ship, wearing a sash that leaves the golden tattoo of the Kingdom of Man shimmering against the dark skin of his chest. His men know that he has been tested time and again, as intemperate fools mistake his healing gifts for some sign of worship of the gods, and he is extremely careful about the presence of holy symbols anywhere near his person, having gone so far as to arrange for a Sorcerer to bestow a curse upon him to feel a sickness if a holy symbol is ever on his person, and to feel pain if one touches his skin, after a magistrate who <i>insisted</i> that he must be a secret servant of the gods arranged for a thief to sneak such an item onto his person, so that he could be framed, and executed...</p>
<p>He evaded that trap, barely, and takes no chances, although the magistrate, frustratingly, also escaped any punishment for his wickedness. No person or package boards his ship without a thorough inspection for such items, and he and his crew have all been trained in the most common holy symbols, and a fair number of rarer ones. There is even a chart, in his quarters, which the men can consult if they see an item that arouses their suspicion, and as new symbols are discovered, he draws their likeness as well, before pitching the offending item overboard.</p>
<p>Captain Sharoum’s profession is that of privateer, and he finds the open sea much to his liking, as he never has to prove himself to unctuous sorts, and his men are fiercely loyal to him, recognizing that there are few other billets in the navy where one is guaranteed magical healing, in addition to such a colorful Captain, who makes use of spells, his familiar and his uncanny skill at arms to assist in their mission, to hunt down and deal with Shackles Pirates (and others who fly the false flag, such as Chelish privateers, who feel quite entitled to harass Rahadoumi merchants, pretending to be mere pirates). He has a strong dislike of pirates, not merely because they threaten Rahadoumi interests, and not out of any personal history or tragic past encounter, but simply because they are so undisciplined. The sea is a powerful force, and where others sea chaos and whimsy and caprice, he seas the steady order of the tides and the predictability of the currents, all ordered and described in the charts made by men such as himself, over many centuries. There is no mystery here, no angry gods of storm and sea, merely a powerful natural force that has been tamed and traveled by men, men such as himself, for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The pirates pray to Besmara, in their foolishness, and deny their own power over the sea, their own skill and mastery that allows them to skirt the Eye of Abendago itself, the greatest natural fury the world has seen, like maidens dancing around a grabby-handed youth, spinning and whirling within reach, but always avoiding his touch.</p>
<p>More fools they, to deny their own abilities and rely on superstition and nonsense. The gods are quite real, of this, Sharoum has no doubt, but to beg for divine assistance when the sweat of your brow and the strength of your back could save your ship from oblivion is a wasteful thing. Men should stand up and take responsibility for their own destinies, and the end of the Age of Prophecy should have been the signal to all men of reason that their fates where now their own to make, free of the meddling of higher (or lower) powers. The dread Eye of Abendago should serve as a reminder that the time of the gods is coming to an end, and it is now the dawn of the Age of Men.</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> Those who assist Captain Sharoum in his never-ending battles against both the forces of intolerance at home, deistic lapdogs abroad, or, more commonly, pirates asea, will earn his favor. He has few special connections, due to his own difficulties at home, but can arrange for those who wish to travel into Rahadoum in how to avoid violating locals laws, or, more importantly, and learned through personal experience, how to avoid arousing a local witch-hunt. He can transport individuals at sea, although he will not go outside of his chartered waters, and he will exercise his own abilities, including his rare healing skills, to assist those who have run afoul of pirates, at no cost.</p>And a rival to the Shackles Pirates, a privateer from the Kingdom of Man, seeking to rid the seas of piracy *and* superstition, while pleased to be on the open sea, and away from his own countrymen, as well...
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Captain Mahayti Sharoum cuts an exotic figure, barefoot aboard his ship, wearing a sash that leaves the golden tattoo of the Kingdom of Man shimmering against the dark skin of his chest. His men know that he has been tested time and again, as intemperate fools mistake his...Captain Mahayti Sharoum (alias of Set)2010-07-16T12:34:16ZRe: Product Discussion: Pathfinder Chronicles: Faction Guide (PFRPG)Captain Kyanos Roikan (alias of Set)http://paizo.com/products/btpy8emo/discuss&page=5?Pathfinder-Chronicles-Faction-Guide#2062012-08-02T15:48:27Z2010-07-16T12:27:32Z<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> A Shackles Pirate captain, in all his degenerate, cannibalistic, aberrant sorcerous Gillman glory. </span>
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Even by the standards of the Gillmen, Captain Kyanos (key-ah-nos) Roikan (roy-kan) has always been violent and vindictive, using both his supernatural abilities and his fearsome shark-like teeth to terrorize all around him. He is a successful Shackles Pirate captain, dominating his crew ruthlessly, having only a few fellow Gillmen (who are treated much more like equals, but still regard him as a figure of capricious whims, best to be obeyed quickly and well, and avoided at all other times) among his crew, which otherwise consists of humans who have been pressed into service, and wear heavy manacles of iron on both wrists and ankles, not to restrain their movement, as they are not chained, but simply to prevent them from ever leaping overboard, with thought of swimming to safety.</p>
<p>Kyanos has a fascination with sharks, particularly with <i>eating</i> them, and often chums the water with fish guts and offal, so that he can hook one of the sleek predators, which he has hauled aboard and butchered for his meal. Given a choice, he only eats the flesh of predatory animals, even if it is smaller predatory fish, or stray cats that he’s snagged while at port, as he regards himself as the top of the food chain, above even the normal predatory animals, and believes that eating the flesh of herbivores or docile domesticated fare will weaken him, leaving him soft and powerless. The captain’s quarters aboard the Razor Smile reek of old blood and poorly-preserved ‘trophies’ taken from various predatory animals that have gone into his smooth belly, including ‘robes’ of tattered shark-skin and many clattering necklaces, bracelets, etc. of shark’s teeth, some impressively large.</p>
<p>He will make an exception to his predator-only dietary standard for a prisoner or an unlucky crewman that has displeased him, using his arcane powers to <i>enlarge</i> himself to grotesque proportions, and then tapping into his unique aberrant heritage to devour whole a screaming human adult. He cannot contain such a meal for long, but the long minutes that pass before he must disgorge it as his body shudders and reduces to his normal size are enough to leave the body unrecognizably disfigured by his supernaturally potent digestive acids. He prefers to show off this tactic when he has taken on new ‘crew,’ generally from the survivors of a pirate raid, picking one that seems the least likely to cooperate, or the most likely to break the will of the others, if devoured before their eyes, and then making various threats while the thrashing figure expires beneath the distended skin of his bulging belly, before wandering out of sight of those he is terrifying to disgorge the remains overboard, so that they never suspect that he can’t ‘hold his dinner.’ He can skip this last unpleasantness if the captives happen to include any gnomes, halflings or children, as he can contain a size Small target without more than extreme gastric discomfort…</p>
<p>The Razor Smile is Captain Kyanos’ second ship, having abandoned his first to an overwhelming assault by a Chelish ship that was far better defended than he had counted on, using his indispensible ability to simply swim away from a hopeless battle. Unfortunately for him, some of his crew survived as prisoners, and he now suffers an unsavory reputation for having deserted his ship, forcing him to recruit ‘sailors’ from those he has terrorized into obedience, as local pirate crews consider him craven and unfit to call himself a Captain...</p>
<p><b>Boons</b> Kyanos respects few things, and resents anyone clearly more powerful than himself, refusing to back down to an almost suicidal degree, in front of his men. To someone whom he feels that he owes a boon, perhaps because they helped him save face, or because they have led him to some juicy plunder (or a tasty predatory beast that he has not yet sampled), he can offer passage, unpleasant as the accommodations may be, or share the names of some useful fences or information brokers, all of them Gillmen, his preferred contacts in Drenchport, Quent and Ollo (he avoids Port Peril, and is indeed sentenced to hang if ever he lands in that port…).</p>
<p>A favored son of Rovagug might learn the name of his ‘lady’ in Drenchport, a Gillman (woman, technically, although one could not be blamed for not immediately knowing the difference…) Witch, who can provide arcane services, and is particularly skilled at crafting magical talismans of use to Sorcerers, such as the Fanged Necklace that Kyanos himself wears.</p>
<p>His Gillmen contacts are also able to construct masterwork hide armor out of sharkskin that is exceptionally well-suited to underwater use, reducing Armor Check Penalties for Swim checks by an additional point over the masterwork reduction. The Gillman craftsman who makes these armors is also capable of making masterwork leather and studded leather armor from sharkhide, and, most uniquely, both studded leather and leather, studded leather or hide armor with armor spikes, as well as spiked wooden shields or spiked gauntlets, where the studs, spikes and armor spikes are made of alchemically-strengthened shark’s teeth instead of metal, making them suitable for use by Druids, or others who do not wish to wear metal armor. (The ‘wooden’ shields are made from tortoise shell, instead of wood, but function identically, mechanically.)</p>
<p><span class=messageboard-ooc> Mechanics for his <i>unnatural maw</i> Alternate Class Feature (replaces the <i>acidic ray</i> Aberrant Bloodline power), his Bite Attack feat, and the new class of magical items for sorcerers called the <i>Bloodline Talismans</i> available in the profile. </span></p>A Shackles Pirate captain, in all his degenerate, cannibalistic, aberrant sorcerous Gillman glory.
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Even by the standards of the Gillmen, Captain Kyanos (key-ah-nos) Roikan (roy-kan) has always been violent and vindictive, using both his supernatural abilities and his fearsome shark-like teeth to terrorize all around him. He is a successful Shackles Pirate captain, dominating his crew ruthlessly, having only a few fellow Gillmen (who are treated much more like equals, but still regard...Captain Kyanos Roikan (alias of Set)2010-07-16T12:27:32Z